GB_Amateur

I guess it depends on what "not connected" means, and what "physical gold price" means. You can take delivery on a current month gold contract from the COMEX. A single contract is 100 ozt of 99.5% minimum purity -- a single gold bar. Thus if you have ~$167,000 you can get gold at the more/less spot price. (There is a transaction cost that goes to the exchange and a commission that goes to the dealer, but those are small, relatively speaking.) The small buyer/seller/investor is in a different market where the gold unit size is smaller. S/he is likewise competing with a different group of individuals whose goals are often different (though possibly related in some cases) to the 'deep pockets'. There is a loose analogy in many other markets -- food, lumber, etc. If you want a small amount you almost always pay more per unit than someone buying in bulk. In all markets the spread in buy vs. sell prices is something to be aware of. Again, for bulk that difference tends to be smaller per unit compared to more modest quantities. This spread is basically the profit the 'middle man' extracts. This often (apparently currently the case for small lot vs. large lot gold) is more relevant than comparing the intermarket raw price difference. When there's competition and a lot of trading, even the 'little man' can (or at least in the past one could) take advantage of a smaller buy/sell spread.

Here's a short description by (another) one of the metal detector design+engineer gurus: http://www.fisherlab.com/hobby/davejohnson/searchcoilsessayrevised.htm And a little closer to home from a detectorist guru 😁:

Well, you've got some good candidates, one in your state and some more further West. I myself have a few out there I'm very interested in hearing from (and likely our wish lists overlap 😄). Don't think I'd go so far as to say "for sure", but first they have to release it (potential gotcha) and then one of our reliable Rocky Mountain USA detectorists has to get one, test it out, and report it. Weather can have an effect although some of those guys are pretty tough, you know, like the Mountain Men. 😉

The pool noodle solution! 😁 I did that, plus added tennis grip tape to the full handle, plus converted to an S-shaft (modifying an ML X-Terra shaft). I see the Manticore has a step in the new (larger) handle / hand-grip to presumably take care of the Equinox issue of hand sliding up and uncomfortably coming in contact with the bottom of the contol pod. Time will tell if the hard grip has been replaced with a softer (more comfortable for me, anyway) grip surface.

IMO, the big question that won't be answered for a while is "how does this detector perform in mineralization?" Actually even that can't be anwered more than on a case-by-case basis since 'mineralziation' is not one size fits all. In that same recent ~9 minute Q&A video (which I linked above), there is a bit of hand-waving(?) detail on how the extra coil power translates to depth. Lawrie brought up something about that extra power affecting small object sensitivity. Could the 6"x8" elliptical coil combined with the extra power offset the stronger near-field of the Equinox+6" coil for small gold nuggets? Again, for native gold hunters, the performance in mineralization is typically going to give the bottom line answer. Unless more Detectival videos will be forthcoming (and we're now about 10 days past that event) it might be a while before we get any new information to speculate on....

Well done taking that girl along, Andy. Days like that she will never forget. (Did she have trouble swinging a full sized detector?) I see you got another first-year-of-issue with the silver 3-center, to go along with that recent gold dollar. I assume you checked for the -O mintmark -- apparently it's in a weird location on these trimes. If I read my Redbook correctly, this is the only year that the trime had a mintmark, and only the New Orleans one. Unfortunately yours has that hole.... 😢

Have you watched this video (posted previously on another thread) from Detectival -- interview with Mark Lawrie? You might find the conversation starting at 6:25 and going through 7:40 revealing.

1 1/8 inches is equivalent to 28.6 mm, so still possibly a large cent. The VDI is in the ballpark for being pure copper -- the composition of USA Large Cents. (Brass would be in the low 20's -- maybe 22-24.) 8 g could reflect how much wear has occurred. That would be roughly 25% loss if it were a 10.89 gram Large Cent when it left the mint. That's a lot of wear but likely possible, particularly since all of the coin's detail is now gone. (That's assuming it was a coin to begin with....) Everything so far seems consistent that you've found an extremely well worn USA Large Cent.

Google translates (from Turkish) to: Hello friends, do you think 18 elite mono or 18 inch recommender mono is successful?

I would think they wouldn't mess with a guy carrying a bazooka compared to their standard issue single bolt actions. From the looks of those two in the photo (can you provide a closeup?), it sure appears there's a possibility that it's a "wrong metal" mint error Buffalo nickel struck on a cent planchet. (Those are reasonably valuable, BTW. ~$100 or more.) Running it under a detector with dTID readout would quickly confirm/deny that possibility, I think. I realize you're experienced so maybe you've seen this happen (many times) before. I assume the thickness is eaten down to ancient 'hammered coin' dimension if it's due to the salt water.... (That doesn't show up on the photo that I can tell.) Always look forward to seeing your bazooka finds.

Yep, those are the mating pieces. The ring shaped one is embedded in the side rail while the keyhole slotted ones are in the headboard & tailboard. It's quite a robust method (which of course is required!).😁

Another video from Detectival, but a bit different from what's been shown up to now. The presenter is Detexpert and field tester Luc Van Assche according to the YouTube text abstract, but other than knowing his name I didn't see/hear more about him. At ~7:00 - 8:30 there is some discussion of custom memory storage. Here are a couple screenshots I took off the video: Also, apparently the user softkey on the right hand side of the control module (silhouette of a person) is not for the custom user profile settings (as it is on the Equinox), or at least not exclusively for those. I might have gotten that info off the latest (~9 minute long) interview with Lawrie. Apparently the user profile storage locations are accessible through the standard front face softkeys. Starting around 9:45 in the video, the Detextpert talks about the -99 to 0 (ferrous) portion of dTID's, saying that a red line will be shown under the two digit readout on the screen to indicate negative values. (I vaguely remember this being mentioned in an earlier video.) Although the title includes "field testing", I think the targets are known (recently) buried ones, not actual 'historic' targets. That part of the video starts about 27:00 and goes for four or five minutes. It's also from the roped off Manticore ground at Detectival so possibly unlike the Equinox unveiling five years ago, attendees were not allowed to take the Manticore into the wild. (Just my hyphothesis as I've only seen videos showing it in the Minelab cordoned off area while at Detectival.)

He didn't mention that he wears wool underwear? One tough dude! Steve, don't forgot the around-the-neck cooler you showed me in Nevada. And make sure it's dry for the flight when you're paying $8/lb. Bring back enough gold to make up for all those extra (annoying) costs. Getting charged $8/lb for a couple pounds of gold ought to be worth it anyway. 😉

I think I know because I have some. They are part of the mechanism that joins headboard and tailboard of beds to the side rails. (Antique beds, not modern ones.) If I can dig them up amonst my museum collection of pieces parts, I may be able to better show how they work. BTW, in the future it will help to show scale, either by photographing a measure/ruler along with the unknown, or something of common knowledge (such as a coin).

From 1793 to 1796 ("Flowing Hair" obverse), the weight at the mint was 13.48 g and the diameter varied between 26 mm and 28 mm. From 1997 onward the minted weight was 10.89 g. 1797-1836 the diameter was in the 28-29 mm range. After that (through the last year of mintage -- 1857) the diameter was held to tighter tolerances -- 27.5 mm. (All of this info is in the Redbook.) If you have a large cent, the diameter should not have changed since it left the mint. The weight will be less due to wear. Did you check the digital Target ID after getting it out of the ground? Should be in the low 30's on the ML Equinox if it's a USA Large Cent.

A simple "that hasn't been finalized..." would be sufficient, as opposed to "read the webpage", a webpage that doesn't have the answer. I for one got spoiled with Lawrie's answers to questions. As mentioned, I don't remember him saying how many user saved customization slots would be included. (Maybe he did and it just didn't register with me.) Regardless, I don't think he would have responded "read the webpage" to any serious question about features/capabilities. There is a "side soft key" with a human silhouette (similar to Equinox "User Profile" key) in the Getting Started Guide, also called "user configurable soft key" on the Overview page. On the tech specs page under 'Shortcuts' it lists "1 [User Button]". So at least as of now(?) there appears to be some kind of memory for the user to save customized setting(s). I hope there will be more than just one -- Equinox had only one "User Profile" storage slot.

Well, I guess the honeymoon is over. Here's the response I got: Thank you for your enquiry regarding the new Minelab MANTICORE. You can read the latest released information about MANTICORE on the Minelab website at the below link, which is being frequently updated with all the product details. https://www.minelab.com/usa/metal-detectors/manticore To keep up to date with all the latest MANTICORE information please follow our social media pages or subscribe to the Minelab E-newsletter. Please click on the below links to subscribe or follow. Minelab E-Newsletter https://www.minelab.com/subscribe Minelab Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MinelabMetalDetectors -- Kind regards; Martha Minelab Customer Care In other words: Have a question? Go through the hoops to ask it. We'll respond by telling you to read the webpage -- the webpage you were just on and got the "have a question?" popup. Real nice.... (Better quit now before I say something I'll regret.)

Here's their website. No "about us" tab; no location, just an email address and a link to their Facebook page under 'contact'.

I like Gigmaster's experimental approaches. Hinting it might carry over to the Manticore, though.... But this is what can happen when a company's attention is brought on a problem and they go radio silent (for 4 years). My benefit-of-the-doubt is that if this is the source of the failures in water (we don't know that from just one unit), ML will have figured it out, too. They are now saying the Manticore is good to 5 m, compared to what, 1.5 m with the Equinox? I gotta think they've covered this one. Then again, what should happen and what happens are often two different things. We'll just have to wait and see. Thanks for linking the video, Jeff.

At about 7:30 into this video, Lawrie explains some setting options for the "all tones" (similar to Equinox's 50 tone mode). It seems that all settings options and features of the Equinox 800 have been carried over to the Manticore. (Anyone notice an exception to this?) The only thing I've noticed on the Equinox 800 that isn't apparently going to be available on the Manticore is the WM08 module (which on the Eqx allows 'wireless' very low latency audio through the user's choice of headphones, earbuds, etc.). From what's been said multiple times by Lawrie, the Manticore will have proprietary low latency audio but (so far, anyway) only useable with the Minelab ML105 headphones. I've yet to see or hear a spec on the latency. Also I don't recall user saved settings (memory slots / 'profiles') being covered. I've put in a question to Minelab from their Manticore webpage. I'll report back with their response.

But you said he was using a different coil. Could that have contributed? Thanks for the pics and report. Keep us entertanied these coming seasons; we're shifting the other direction (as I'm sure you are aware), and some of us don't ski. 😞

Is this a recent photo of what you're referring to?

I haven't seen the following Detectival 2022 video posted yet (maybe I missed it, though). Language is Italian but much is translating Lawrie's English, similar as was done in one of the French videos. First 7 minutes are the typical explanation (with translation) of the detector's features. However, from ~7:00 to ~9:00 there are what I consider interesting (air) separation demos which show two targets on the 2-D screen simultaneously. The iron piece is rather large and yet the non-ferrous targets still are well separated. There's at least one other video that shows a bit of this type of demo, but either I wasn't completely getting it then or this one is more pronounced.

Yes, well, sort of. The Jefferson nickel is our oldest 'modern' coin. Wheat pennies stopped being minted in 1958 and eventually the reverse gave them away -- got Hoovered. Dimes, quarters, and halves became clad in 1965 so everything minted before that got Hoovered. (Kennedy halves from 1965 thru 1969 minted for circulation were silver clad -- evenutally Hoovered.) The so-called 'Warnicks' (35% silver with those large mintmarks over the dome) had a gray patina and were easily recognized and Hoovered. But the 1938 thru early 42 (both alloys were used in 1942) and 1946 onward had nothing to give them away except the date+(small)mintmark. Yes, in the 21st Century there were variations on both obverse and reverse but there was no driving reason for the public to pull out the 20th Century versions. It's unusual to find pre-1960's in circulation, but it's considerably more likely than many of Jeffy's younger alternate denomination cousins.

Says another engineer. I'm not one, although I've done some of their tasks, and I also have great respect for most (but not all) of the ones I've worked with. It's refreshing to hear directly from an engineer as opposed to through a filter, from a salesman/marketeer. (Misspelling intended. ) I suspect the "we can't talk about that" is drummed into every Minelab employee's head so no criticism of Mark for saying it, too. Bottom line for me is it just seems like we're getting straight answers. For example, he has never said anything close to 50% more depth. But he's multiple times said 50% more power to the coil. I'm sure he knows that to be a fact. If people are so ignorant as to translate that to 50% more depth then it's their problem. I'm so sick of "dumbing down" I could scream. Stop catering to the lazy s___s who are proud to have gone through school not learning anything. ("Tell us how you really feel, Chuck.") In the first video that Shelton linked (German guy interviewing Lawrie), I didn't see much that hadn't been said already, but it's a nice concise review and with good audio. Detectival videos are dribbling in. I hope those (or at least some) will show live digs as opposed to repeating all the features, screenshots of settings menus, etc. We'll see.... Personally this is what has me excited. Maybe I'll be disappointed, but I've noticed over many years putting up plots that many people just glaze over rather than try and figure out what they are saying. If "a picture's worth a thousand words", isn't a plot worth a lot more than just a couple numbers? I missed out on the FBS(2) and V3i graphics. I don't think I'm going to miss out on this one, but I also am going to sit tight while giving the objective early adopters a chance to wow(?) us with their reviews. Hopefully by early spring (March) I'll have enough intel to make a decision and the supply channels will have time to loosen up as well. 🤞